European Internet Daily: Spain aims at high-tech, Net stocks

The Spanish government appears to be waking up to the success of recent flotations on the U.S. Nasdaq of Terra Networks SA
trra
the offshoot of Telefonica SA
tefrt
and Jazztel SA, a niche telecommunications operator.

U.S.-listed shares of Terra Networks

The finance and economic ministry said it's approved plans for a special arm of the stock market to deal with Internet, technology and other high-growth stocks. Markets have been speculating that the government was planning such a move to answer Germany's Neuer Markt, France's Nouveau Marche and more recently, London's Techmark 100 Index.

The government is also easing up listing rules for stocks, which prevented Jazztel
"
from meeting requirements to list in Madrid. The ministry plans to smooth a path for companies to gain exemption from requirements on past profit performance by providing information on expectations for earnings.

No date was given on when the new bourse will kick off.

Alehops in Spain

Spain's movement into the Internet age appears to be picking up pace. In Madrid, advertisements for Internet companies are generously plastered on billboards, in television ads and Web addresses can even be spotted on automobiles.

One Internet service provider in Spain that appears to be running regular television advertisements is Alehop.com, found at http://www.alehop.com. Alehop is a unit of Retevision SA, a Spanish TV broadcast carrier, which became Spain's second phone company in 1998, and has 1.6 million fixed-line connections. Retevision is 70 percent-owned by a consortium that includes Telecom Italia SpA
TI.A, -1.21%
and power giants Endesa SA
ELE, +0.00%
and Union Fenosa SA.

Alehop doesn't charge a subscription cost, although users have to pay local telephone call tariffs to hook up and stay online.

Ricardo.de launches B2B auction site

Germany's Ricardo.de, which claims to be the only online auction house in the world with a live auctioneer, is launching what it says is the first international business-to-business auction site in January 2000 -- Ricardobiz.com.

Ricardo.de, which is listed on Germany's Neuer Markt index for high-technology stock growth, said the B2B site will feature a variety of trading, plus general and category specific trade information, in co-operation with brand-name partners.

"Active Media estimates revenues in B2B auctions at $16 billion. Ricardo.de will use its position as a market leader to claim a huge market share of this fast growing media area," said Ricardobiz.com manager Jan-Henrik Andersson.

With over 400,000 subscribers, Ricardo.de said it's surpassed the subscriber numbers of EBay Inc.'s
EBAY, +1.87%
German auction site.

Dome.com

Finally, back in London, Britons are awaiting to see if the government's Dome, built to celebrate the millennium, will live up to the hype. However, celebrations at cap shaped Dome, which changes colors on a daily basis at its location in east London, may have already hit a snag. The London Mirror tabloid splashed a headline Thursday saying "We're all Domed," explaining that with only 24 hours to go, only 3,000 of 10,000 tickets and passes have been sent out.

Other blunders, the newspaper claimed, have included sending invitations out to wrong addresses and sending families only part of their ticket allocations. The paper thundered that it's too late to send the rest of the tickets by post.

How the problem will be solved remains to be seen, but one guaranteed ticket to the Dome is compliments of the paper at www.mirror.co.uk/dome. The site grants access to such Dome features as the Tunnel of Love inside Living Island, and Self Portrait: A Self-Portrait inside a Self-Portrait, although attempts to reach a couple of other areas were unsuccessful.

U.K. government on the Millenium ready

A call to the U.K. Treasury revealed the government's state of readiness for a possible year 2000 disaster. At www.millennium-center.gov.uk, the government is promising to provide up to date information on any millennium catastrophes, plus information on what's happening inside Britain. Failing access to the site, a spokeswoman said the government would have someone on call.

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